Carny

[Beccah]

VANILLA & VANILLA BEAN ~ Aphrodisiac, inspires happiness, playfulness, sexual arousal, lust, vitalizing.
TOBACCO ABSOLUTE ~ Healing, purification, spiritualism. An ode to the Gods.
DARK RESINS ~ Deep sensuality and stimulation.
WOODSMOKE ~ In addition to the attributes of whatever is being burned (resins, woods, etc), smoke is for cleansing, purification, renewal, consecration, concealment and celebration. It is also the foremost mode of communication from this world to the realm of spirits and the gods.

[hearts]

Whoa... After testing without looking at the notes, I was wayyyy off. The notes that are amping on my skin are the vanilla bean and smoke. Because blind testing I was thinking "clean" and "powdery". It's wearing softly and maybe with my skin chemistry, I'm getting that smooth and clean but not soapy scent. Now that I really put my nose to my wrist and huff, the resins are there but not screaming loud. I can see this being unisex for sure.

[Snoopyace]

Oh wow, you already got your order? I can't wait to smell this one. I thought it looked really interesting.

[luna65]

When I slathered this last night I got a definite soapy kind of evocation...I was trying to remember if there was musk in it. So I'm not sure what it was unless the "boozy" cast of the vanilla bean might have been doing it. So I'll try it again next week after it has recovered from travel shock.

[missdarlyncherie]

Me too! Total soap-o-rama. It didn't smell like any of the ingredients involved so I am also letting mine sit for further investigation later.

[Black Cat]

Ohhhhhhhhh, this is intense! Soft smoky vanilla darkened with tobacco. While I get the teensiest hint of soap that others speak of, it keeps coming back squarely to smoky darkness. While I can totally picture this on a guy, it also wears quite feminine on me, to my nose.

[Snoopyace]

I'm really amping the vanilla and vanilla bean on this one. Very clean and as others have mentioned, just a hint of soapiness. Soft, subtle and unisex. While I personally really enjoy this scent, I don't think my bride will. She's not a fan of clean or soapy scents. A shame, really, because this is really nice. I might have to wear this for work occasionally because I don't think it would be offensive to anyone yet I find it smells really nice.

 

Edit- I just realized how many times I wrote that this scent is really nice. Apparently it's really nice.

Edited September 22, 2016 by Snoopyace

[quietguy]

This is a great scent, hands down. I will say that there is a lot that could have gone wrong with this scent on my skin. I amp vanilla and tobacco and coffee notes really stand out to my nose. That being said, once again Mara has combined everything in just the right proportions such that no one note leaps out to my nose. Instead, everything seems to blend in well together to create a slightly deep scent that to me is pretty masculine. I am glad the ladies like it, even on their skin, but it would not register as overly feminine or even really unisex to me. It might smell good on a woman - maybe I will have to sweet talk the Mrs. into giving it a try.

 

When this goes on wet, the vanilla comes across the strongest. But it is a deeper vanilla, not a foody vanilla, so you do not smell like a vanilla candle. But the darker scent of the resins is right behind it with maybe just a touch of the tobacco.

 

Once it dries down, I get just a light touch of "soapy" but on my skin it is counterbalanced by the black vanilla, so just as you register the soapy, the black vanilla is right there with it making you wonder if you really smell the soapy. Mostly it is the resins blending in with the tobacco and coffee that form a very nice "light" darker background. I really only catch the woodsmoke maybe on the far edges - I have to really focus to try to pull that out of the crowd as for the most part, it blends right in.

 

This is my initial take. I will update as I wear it longer & more.

[Snoopyace]

This is a great scent, hands down. I will say that there is a lot that could have gone wrong with this scent on my skin. I amp vanilla and tobacco and coffee notes really stand out to my nose. That being said, once again Mara has combined everything in just the right proportions such that no one note leaps out to my nose. Instead, everything seems to blend in well together to create a slightly deep scent that to me is pretty masculine. I am glad the ladies like it, even on their skin, but it would not register as overly feminine or even really unisex to me. It might smell good on a woman - maybe I will have to sweet talk the Mrs. into giving it a try.

 

When this goes on wet, the vanilla comes across the strongest. But it is a deeper vanilla, not a foody vanilla, so you do not smell like a vanilla candle. But the darker scent of the resins is right behind it with maybe just a touch of the tobacco.

 

Once it dries down, I get just a light touch of "soapy" but on my skin it is counterbalanced by the black vanilla, so just as you register the soapy, the black vanilla is right there with it making you wonder if you really smell the soapy. Mostly it is the resins blending in with the tobacco and coffee that form a very nice "light" darker background. I really only catch the woodsmoke maybe on the far edges - I have to really focus to try to pull that out of the crowd as for the most part, it blends right in.

 

This is my initial take. I will update as I wear it longer & more.

 

 

 

Excellent review! Much more eloquently written than I could have but also very much in line with my own perceptions. Thanks!

[luna65]

Okay NOW that my bottle has had a chance to rest, I shook THEE HELL out of it and tried again. No more soap, yay!

 

That being said, once again Mara has combined everything in just the right proportions such that no one note leaps out to my nose. Instead, everything seems to blend in well together to create a slightly deep scent that to me is pretty masculine.

I totally agree, this is so well-blended, and it wears rather close on me as well. It has a sort of masculine neutrality, if that makes sense. A similar "there-ness" like Vardo, but in a different way. It just smells male, but not MALE, and I really like that. It's not at all what I thought it would be, but I do like what it is, definitely. Carny smells more like what I'd expect in the bottle, but on my skin it changes drastically, pulls back from any individual note dominating.

 

If anyone is shying away due to the notes, it's not what you think. It's a second-skin scent for a guy, sort of like Tonka Musk but it's definitely softer than that one.

[LadyVictoria]

Another one that tricked me! I thought this was going to smell like candied apples! I too got the soap smell. I'm going to let this one age for another day or two.

[Ivysaur]

I was able to pick out everything in this correctly throughout a day's wearing, even the splash of coffee! Yay! And I loved this, too. I think tobacco smells gruff and tough, so I think this can be combined with the Swimming with Sharks pheromone blend for work or school. I'm glad Carny has vanilla in it to balance the scent more toward unisex rather than straight up men's.

 

ETA: Amazingly, before reading the magickal meanings for tobacco and wood smoke, I did remember a particular passed-on loved one more often today and sent them more mental messages than usual. It was nice.

Edited February 2, 2017 by Ivysaur

[SirenSong]

This one was a surprise! I saved this sampler for last because although I love vanilla, I am not crazy about coffee and really not crazy about smelling like tobacco! But for my daily sample, I tested a little and thought, okay, I can do this, so I slathered a real run. At first I got a quiet coffee blast, but not the sweet, sugary coffee I have a distaste for -- a true coffee bean-like scent. Then, it just dried down to a clean and, yes, a soapy scent. I totally got the soapy side! And later I mostly got woodsmoke.

 

This scent is a skin-hugger. I had problems smelling it on me later in the day and I put on my normal amount that I apply for all scents. I would describe this as the scent of a "classy carny". The clean evocation I get from it almost reminds me of a hotel room smell, a little coffee, a little left over smoke covered up by a cleaning job. I have no problems wearing this. I think it's feminine enough; I just wished it lasted a little longer.

 

I liked it enough to force it on my husband. His skin chemistry tends to make the unisex ones I like and try on him no longer smell good. Our skin chemistry is really different. On him, I totally got the vanilla notes whereas I smell like woodsmoke wearing it. He couldn't believe how different the same scent smelled on each of us. Actually, I'd prefer him to smell like woodsmoke and me to smell like vanilla if I could choose.

[Ivysaur]

It's so funny to me how I'll smell LPMPs a bit different at times. My first try of this had zilch soapy or clean association to it. But on my second and third dons I've picked out the soap and shampoo respectively, in proportion to how much less I smell of everything besides vanilla. I'm going to be inclined to test out the 'shake bottle' theory regarding this phenomenon.

We want to shake our bottles, right? I've had this trial vial in my purse for the past few days and the clean smell is what I'm getting rather than when I had left it lying on my desk before my first slather. I'll try it again with it just staying put and report if my smoke comes back

Edited October 13, 2016 by Ivysaur

[Beccah]

Yes, shake those bottles & samples. I always wait a week after I get the NRs & shake them up well before I test them out.

[IndieAna]

On me, Carny begins with boozy vanilla and coffee. During drydown, the resins become more noticeable, giving this fragrance a heady soapiness, but it is smooth, not sharp in anyway. Wisps of tobacco and smoke become noticeable after some wear time. It's morning and this carny has showered, but has had coffee and a couple of hits of tobacco. You can also smell a hint of his boozy night before. I really like this one, I don't find it too masculine for me to wear. Must see how it wears on hubby.

[greenappletart]

This one is so much more unisex than it sounds. It morphs a lot in the first few minutes, though the vibe remains consistent. So my review is my impressions in the order I wrote them while wearing it. It starts off a bit soapy with a hint of something underneath, maybe the tobacco absolute? What I'm smelling is similar to tobacco flower, but not quite the same. Then, just a touch of smoke comes out, like there is a fireplace burning, but it's far away and you only get occasional whiffs of it on the breeze. There are constantly new notes coming to the forefront, yet it's still very quiet and subtle. There is almost a hint of wood, like tree bark, but I'm not sure where it's coming from. The woodsmoke? I have a hard time identifying the notes individually, but they are all good and working together. 

 

This is a scent everyone could wear. It smells like you just got out of the shower. It veers a little to musk, even though that's not in the list of notes. Though not outright musk, more the impression of a very quiet, skin like musk. Carny wears very close, and more than anything, smells like just washed skin. Perhaps a bit of non sweet vanilla. As if you're not wearing perfume, your skin just naturally smells this good. I think just about anyone could wear this. To quote Snoopyace, "It's really nice."

[halo0073]

I totally agree about how unisex it is. We have a lot of male customers who love Carny.

[Kayla]

1 hour ago, halo0073 said:

I totally agree about how unisex it is. We have a lot of male customers who love Carny.

I'm happy to hear this from several of you. I ordered this and some other men's /unisex scents for my husband as birthday presents. I figured if he didn't like this one, I could wear it. 

[halo0073]

20 hours ago, Kayla said:

I'm happy to hear this from several of you. I ordered this and some other men's /unisex scents for my husband as birthday presents. I figured if he didn't like this one, I could wear it. 

Yes! Any guys who specifically ask for a Fall scent- this is where I steer them first. Although I think it’s wearable in other times/seasons it’s just so evocative for Autumn.